Alcohol-Related God/Higher Power Control Beliefs, Locus of Control, and Recovery Within the Alcoholics Anonymous Paradigm

Abstract

This study explored the relationships among spirituality, control beliefs, and treatment outcomes by examining internal and God/Higher Power control beliefs in members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Participants included 89 male and 55 female (N = 144) adult alcoholics who were currently attending AA meetings. Questionnaires assessing alcohol-related God/Higher Power control beliefs, drinking-related control beliefs, satisfaction with life, and length of sobriety were completed by AA members. Guided by Pargament et al.'s (1988) model of collaborative religious coping, it was hypothesized that greater length of sobriety and satisfaction with life would be found in individuals who simultaneously endorsed internal and God/Higher Power drinking-related control beliefs.

Do Religious and Control Cognitions Predict Risky Behavior? II. Development and Validation of the Sexual Risk Behavior-related God Locus of Control Scale for Adolescents (SexGLOC-A)

“…This finding supports the contention that God control beliefs are not merely the opposite of internal control beliefs but rather are orthogonal to these beliefs, and is consistent with previous research in a sample of recovering alcoholics (Murray, Malcarne, & Goggin, 2003). This finding is also consistent with previous literature that demonstrated that God-related control beliefs, as measured by the MHLC's God Health Locus of Control scale, were independent of the internal control beliefs scale on the MHLC in three samples of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis (Wallston et al, 1999).…”

Do Religious and Control Cognitions Predict Risky Behavior? I. Development and Validation of the Alcohol-related God Locus of Control Scale for Adolescents (AGLOC-A)

“…This finding supports the contention that God control beliefs are not merely the opposite of internal control beliefs, but rather are orthogonal to these beliefs. This is consistent with previous research focusing on recovering alcoholics (Murray et al, 2003) and patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis (Wallston et al, 1999).…”

“…Until very recently, no measures existed for examining alcohol-related God/Higher Power locus of control beliefs. In a recent study, Murray and colleagues developed a new scale modeled after the GLHC Scale (Wallston et al, 1999) for use in a study of the relationship between God/Higher Power alcohol-related control beliefs and sobriety in adult members of Alcoholics Anonymous (Murray, Malcarne, & Goggin, 2003). In this scale, items focused on control beliefs about the decision to stop drinking and maintain sobriety.…”

How do people recover from alcohol dependence? A systematic review of the research on mechanisms of behavior change in Alcoholics Anonymous

“…Other research examining specific links in the causal chain suggests a complex picture. For example, AA members were found to have more spiritual beliefs and external locus of control than SMART Recovery (Ellis and Velton, 1992) members (Li et al 2000), but internal locus of control has been associated with long-term sobriety among AA members (Murray et al 2003). Long-term AA sobriety has also been related to a shift from recovery-specific, to more general community, helping, as well as endorsement of religiosity or ''theism'' .…”